I mean, if you're going to put the time into learning something, learn something USEFUL *_* Japanese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, French, German, Spanish, just pick something that people actually speak on a regular basis.

There are plenty of interesting, challenging, and unique human languages out there that I can hardly see why you would need to learn the language of a people that don't even exist.

I guess there's some sort of cool factor that I'm not seeing here.

And sure, I guess I would date someone who spoke Elven or Klingon, but I'd probably end up asking her why she learned the language. Which would ultimately lead to me voicing the above opinion.

Ikemook: Can't speak for others, and I don't actually speak either of those languages, but I've been known to learn languages for fun. Elven is a very nice language - find somewhere on the Web where it's written phonetically and say it aloud. Maybe just because it's nice to speak?

Hell, I'd sure go out with a girl who spoke Elven. Try holding me back I think the real test would come if she played D&D, though.

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Every sort of expert knowledge and every inquiry, and similarly every action and undertaking, seems to seek some good. Because of that, people are right to affirm that the good is 'that which all things seek'...

Commie, maybe we should get you and Jicama together....she has a long line of D&D playing in her family...was born into it... But she speaks Klingon, as you well know, not Elvish. Her mom, however, has a pedometer and is walking to Moria.

No more picking on Jicama for knowing Klingon!!!! This is one of the things that adds to her coolness, and she wouldn't be Jicama without it. And, as we all heard in the news last year, that can be a valuable skill (as in the incident where a person with mental problems would/could only speak Klingon and the psychiatrists in charge of him wanted to hire an interpretor. )

Elven is more old-school geek, I think...plus, there are a whole bunch of different dialects of Elven, speaking them all would be impressive.

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Every sort of expert knowledge and every inquiry, and similarly every action and undertaking, seems to seek some good. Because of that, people are right to affirm that the good is 'that which all things seek'...

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QUOTE (CommieBastard @ Jun 5 2004, 12:08 PM)

Elven is more old-school geek, I think...plus, there are a whole bunch of different dialects of Elven, speaking them all would be impressive.

I've got to ask. Who makes up these languages, and what are they based on? I imagine at least one is based on Tolkien, but what about the rest? Are they all variants on the same thing, or are there completely different ones?

Tolkien created Elvish and all variants thereof - he was an Oxford Professor of Linguistics, and thus highly qualified to do so, as well as being a very intelligent man. As far as I know, they're all similar, variants on a theme rather than completely different languages. They all use the same alphabet, I think.

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Every sort of expert knowledge and every inquiry, and similarly every action and undertaking, seems to seek some good. Because of that, people are right to affirm that the good is 'that which all things seek'...

I said both were equally geekie but in my books that's not a bad thing as I seem to find geeks sexy anyway!

Ditto! Elvish definitely sounds prettier, though.

Meanwhile, I know neither Klingon or Elvish, but I know a little Al Bhed. I had an Al Bhed custom title for a loooong time when I first joined. I didn't set out with the intent of learning a made-up language...it just sort of stuck from playing the game too much and playing with that translater I found.

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I love you in a way that is mystical and eternal and illegal in 20 states.

Klingon comes from various african dialects, which makes it less geeky. Why? Because I'm a trekkie and I say so.

QUOTE

where Klingons are generally bad guys (I think).

That depends. In TOS they were bad guys. In ST:TMP V they were representative of the USSR(to the fullest, though in TOS they were as well. In the more culturally understanding emphasis of TNG, the Klingons were portrayed in a more positive light. We got to see their ceremonies as well as their government. It showed their interesting culture, as opposed to the belligerent secrecy of TOS. In DS9, the Klingons are portrayed as fickle allies.

So, they're not so much villains so much as they are "different", though sometimes they do bad things, sort of like the Ferengi.

Tolkien created Elvish and all variants thereof - he was an Oxford Professor of Linguistics, and thus highly qualified to do so, as well as being a very intelligent man. As far as I know, they're all similar, variants on a theme rather than completely different languages. They all use the same alphabet, I think.

Although people have used the grammar and words that he set up and expanded quite a lot on them.

Klingon is probably geekier, because LotR went somewhat more mainstream in comparison to Star Trek. Still, Geekiness is the New Cool.

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At the Left Hand of God

OMFG STEAM R0X0RZ TEH BIG ONE111!Thou shalt not lie with a man as with a woman; it is an abomination. Thou shalt do it standing up.Dominating Aries, e-hubby, since 2004.

I picked them as equal, but I'd say Klingon is worse in some degrees. The people who speak Klingon scare me more than people who speak Elvish. Beside, I can't stand Star Trek in general, the fans are kind of weird but whatever floats your boat. I think Trekkies are geekier than Saturday night D&D players, because at least in D&D you have to interact with other human beings.

And then compare a Star Trek Convention *shivers* to say the Renaissance Festival. I think I change my vote to Klingon.

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"As life gets longer, awful feels softer,Well it feels pretty soft to me. And if it takes sh*t to make bliss, Well I feel pretty blissfully."

I used to speak elven rlly well, and know all the grammar and stuff, but I can hardly remember it at all now.

Klingon is "geekier" in the classic sense of "geek" because trekkies are usually the ones who speak it. And trekkies are like the stereotypical geeks.

Also, fantasy just adds and air of mystery an excitement to a usually recogniseable setting (medievil, western etc) whereas SciFi is more about the future and the unknown so people feel more threatened by it, hence fantasy being more mainstream

Plus theres the fact that Elvish sounds a lot nicer. Its the difference between Spanish and German.

Im done now.

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My cousin's a trekkie and he rather frightens me sometimes, but I have elvish written all over some jeans I savaged with a Sharpie and I'm a hopeless geek, so who knows. Although LotR IS more mainstream, it's not the *shudder* Orlando Bloom fangirls who learn elvish; it's still the real geeks. I think they're about equal on the geeky scale.

And as for people learning "useless" languages, the same could be said for Latin, and it's taught extensively (yes, it helps with English, but the point is, Latin's not going to help you in everyday life except to read nonsense like school mottos).

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-Grammar Nazi-quotes of the yesterdayIt is only in his work that an artist can find reality and satisfaction, for the actual world is less intense than the world of his invention and consequently his life, without recourse to violent disorder, does not seem very substantial. -Tennessee Williams

Latin definitely has uses. Beyond what Sir Maxerpopple wrote, Latin (as well as Greek) helps significantly with English grammer, as well as the grammer of any other language that Latin bleeds into.

Latin also has more "obvious" uses, such as translating and reading original Roman texts (as with Greek and Greek texts), and other such works originally written in Latin.

See, I'm one of those people who has lots of trouble learning languages. I'm not sure why; I can't think quick enough to listen to and successfully translate languages. Believe me, I've tried (hell, I still had problems with Latin, and you don't even speak that).

So I've never really understood why people who can learn languages easier than I can learn languages such as Klingon and Elvish. Don't get me wrong; I'm very impressed that Tolkien and others were capable of creating the languages. And I'm impressed that people have learned those languages (simply for the fact that they've learned a language). If you like it, and it floats your boat, learn it.

I just don't understand why *_*

Anyway, I'd say both are close enough to be equally geeky. Trekkies do tend to be on the scary side, but Tolkien fans can be (and are) just as obsessive.

It seems that Tolkien fans are less showy, and probably more accepted.

And to be fair, I really can't speak on geekiness. My screen name is a type of stone tool tradition, and I've spent a lot of time playing and revising Risk2210 with a bunch of friends *_*

Latin also has more "obvious" uses, such as translating and reading original Roman texts (as with Greek and Greek texts), and other such works originally written in Latin.

Oh and I suppose Elven doesn't have that same use? I suppose Tolkien is still alive to translate all that stuff he wrote in elvish for us? I can't wait till he comes out with his next book! [/sarcasm]

Also, I believe that D&D has it's own variant of elvish, so knowing elvish doesn't necessarilly correspond to being a gamer geek for those of you who judge them, even though Gamer Geeks > all > elbow > people who make fun of gamers.

"Oh and I suppose Elven doesn't have that same use? I suppose Tolkien is still alive to translate all that stuff he wrote in elvish for us? I can't wait till he comes out with his next book! [/sarcasm]"

*blink* *confused* (It's the last sentence that confuses me, really)

"Also, I believe that D&D has it's own variant of elvish, so knowing elvish doesn't necessarilly correspond to being a gamer geek for those of you who judge them, even though Gamer Geeks > all > elbow > people who make fun of gamers. "

Oh, for future reference (though I'm sure you're all aware of this already):

When you can speak Elvish and your DM can't, it's not a good idea to say your spells in Elvish when you cast them ^_~ Had someone almost try this once, not out of malice, but because she thought it'd be cool. And perhaps normally it would have been, if I had, ya know, been able to understand her.

On that note, I wasn't aware there was an actual D&D variant of Elvish. At least, one written out in full.